7 reasons not to be a graduate engineer in the uk
7 REASONS NOT TO BE A GRADUATE ENGINEER IN THE UK
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
This though.
Someone's a bit bitter about his failed ambitions as a doctor...
Is it because they're embittered about this that engineering students walk around like their **** doesn't stink and try and put every other subject down?
Original post by tengentoppa
Is it because they're embittered about this that engineering students walk around like their **** doesn't stink and try and put every other subject down?
I actually came on here with the mindset that this guy is probably ranting about random ****, but he is actually 100% spot on. The problem with engineering is that you work your ARSE off to achieve a broad understanding in many things but little specialist knowledge (in terms of physics/ maths). The grad schemes are then ridiculously competitive compared to other jobs. .
So I come onto to why I quoted your post. Engineers walk around wondering why the **** other people who work hard, (like people in medicine) seemingly (though probably not) have it easier or people who do bloody geography in uni and then the vast majority get jobs as teachers, yet engineers (many, not all, but many) actually want to be engineers but can't get engineering jobs which apparently are in demand. Yeah, we then act a bit cynical towards other subjects, but its more because engineers in the UK are generally treated like **** throughout their careers until they become manager type personnel which relates little to their degree.
Other people do subjects where many require less effort, and yes, they do, sorry bud, but they do, and get any old job, it doesn't matter, but engineers who want to do engineering seem to have the short end of the straw which makes little sense because we are frequently told (and its shoved down our throats) that engineers are consistently in demand.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by djpailo
I actually came on here with the mindset that this guy is probably ranting about random ****, but he is actually 100% spot on. The problem with engineering is that you work your ARSE off to achieve a broad understanding in many things but little specialist knowledge (in terms of physics/ maths). The grad schemes are then ridiculously competitive compared to other jobs. .
So I come onto to why I quoted your post. Engineers walk around wondering why the **** other people who work hard, (like people in medicine) seemingly (though probably not) have it easier or people who do bloody geography in uni and then the vast majority get jobs as teachers, yet engineers (many, not all, but many) actually want to be engineers but can't get engineering jobs which apparently are in demand. Yeah, we then act a bit cynical towards other subjects, but its more because engineers in the UK are generally treated like **** throughout their careers until they become manager type personnel which relates little to their degree.
Other people do subjects where many require less effort, and yes, they do, sorry bud, but they do, and get any old job, it doesn't matter, but engineers who want to do engineering seem to have the short end of the straw which makes little sense because we are frequently told (and its shoved down our throats) that engineers are consistently in demand.
So I come onto to why I quoted your post. Engineers walk around wondering why the **** other people who work hard, (like people in medicine) seemingly (though probably not) have it easier or people who do bloody geography in uni and then the vast majority get jobs as teachers, yet engineers (many, not all, but many) actually want to be engineers but can't get engineering jobs which apparently are in demand. Yeah, we then act a bit cynical towards other subjects, but its more because engineers in the UK are generally treated like **** throughout their careers until they become manager type personnel which relates little to their degree.
Other people do subjects where many require less effort, and yes, they do, sorry bud, but they do, and get any old job, it doesn't matter, but engineers who want to do engineering seem to have the short end of the straw which makes little sense because we are frequently told (and its shoved down our throats) that engineers are consistently in demand.
Well said!
You need to get an apprenticeship at a good company that will pay for your degree and give you work afterwards like Airbus, rolls royce, etc.
Doing it any other way is silly imo.
Doing it any other way is silly imo.
Original post by ChickenMadness
You need to get an apprenticeship at a good company that will pay for your degree and give you work afterwards like Airbus, rolls royce, etc.
Doing it any other way is silly imo.
Doing it any other way is silly imo.
You want to know what's the funny thing, even those kind of apprenticeships are just as hard to get and the reason most people don't pick this route is because it takes much longer to get to the same qualified level although you have the advantage of actual hands on experience and knowing how the business runs.
Original post by Dan716
7 REASONS NOT TO BE A GRADUATE ENGINEER IN THE UK
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
1) The NHS don't do it for doctors or nurses, but they use assessment centres for the rest of their graduate intake. In fact it is probably now the norm for companies to use them for recruitment of graduates - it's certainly not only engineering ones that face them!
2) If you wanted to be doing physical work then you should have looked into apprenticeships.
3) I never experienced that...
4) The average starting salary for a graduate engineer is about £25,000 per year.
5) Again, not true in my experience.
6) This is obviously patently untrue, otherwise companies that need mechanical engineers would never manage to recruit them...
7) It comes down to supply and demand. If another candidate has more relevant experience than yourself, they're more likely to be offered the position.
If you get some work experience before you finish your degree over the passing summers, you will definitely get a job with over £13k.
Saying that, the going rate for engineers in the UK is below what much of the rest of the world pays. A lot of EU/Overseas students tell me that if they were to get a job back in their home country, they would be looking at £30k minimum.
I also thought that most people, including myself, wanted to do engineering so that we could have a cushy job pushing buttons on a computer - to avoid doing manual labour.
Saying that, the going rate for engineers in the UK is below what much of the rest of the world pays. A lot of EU/Overseas students tell me that if they were to get a job back in their home country, they would be looking at £30k minimum.
I also thought that most people, including myself, wanted to do engineering so that we could have a cushy job pushing buttons on a computer - to avoid doing manual labour.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by pleasedtobeatyou
I also thought that most people, including myself, wanted to do engineering so that we could have a cushy job pushing buttons on a computer - to avoid doing manual labour.
I also thought that most people, including myself, wanted to do engineering so that we could have a cushy job pushing buttons on a computer - to avoid doing manual labour.
Really? I personally would like something that has a mix of the two....i.e. occasional site visits (which may require you to inspect machinery for example) as well as office design work would be nice
i would hate being in an office all day 24/7 all year
Original post by a10
Really? I personally would like something that has a mix of the two....i.e. occasional site visits (which may require you to inspect machinery for example) as well as office design work would be nice
i would hate being in an office all day 24/7 all year
i would hate being in an office all day 24/7 all year
Well yeah, I agree with you. Doing solely office/design work would become monotonous in the end. The litmus test is probably having a job that doesn't involve you sweating at all.
Original post by Dan716
7 REASONS NOT TO BE A GRADUATE ENGINEER IN THE UK
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
1] The NHS wouldn't invite 20 newly qualified doctors or nurses along to a recruitment day to squabble over 1 job. But this is EXACTLY what happens to a lot of GRAD ENGINEERS.
2] Age 18 you might have wanted to be physically working on machinery or plant etc. The reality is you could wind up a bod in an office 8 hrs a day sat at computer stations on CAD/FEA.
3] A newly qualified medicine student doesn't isn't made to feel an arse at interview because he hasn't worked in the right industry or on the right product before. Expect this as a GRAD ENGINEER.
4] A newly qualified nurse wouldn't get offered £13,000 a year by the NHS. Two engineering companies expected me to take this in 2011.
5] Your average person doesn't know what the hell an engineer is. Tell it to a girl and you're a dead fish.
6] With a Mech eng degree, the many shoddy recruitment/H.R. arses see it on your CV and think you're a car mechanic, or something......
7] You might spend 10 years designing machines at one company, and its not seen as transferable by the narrow minded hiring managers or H.R. at another company who make a different type of machine.
1) It's not just engineering jobs that do recruitment days, other professions have recruitment days due to increased competition.
2) If you wanted to physically work on a machine and decided to study Engineering at University, than you clearly haven't researched your degree well...
3) All the graduate engineer interviews I had, I never experienced this.
4) I get paid £25,000 for my graduate engineering job, know plenty of other grads who get paid higher amounts in their grad engineering jobs
5) There is truth in that, but not enough of a reason to not be an engineer
6) Plenty of banks hire engineers. Pretty sure if an grad engineer applies for a job in an engineering company, that point falls to pieces anyway.
7) Not sure about this, maybe true, maybe not. These narrow minded HR exists in other professions, not just in Engineering anyway. I can only speak for Civil Engineering and this is definately not true.
(edited 9 years ago)
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